The Game Awards, airing this Thursday, December 11th on all social media platforms, will honor the best in the medium, and we already have an Evanescence performance to look forward to. Turns out that host Geoff Keighley is a Sleep Token fan as well, and got their song "Rain" cleared for this year's hype trailer. Hearing Vessel and Co. over clips of Death Stranding 2, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Kingdom Come II: Deliverance, and more is a surreal feeling, but damn if it doesn't work so well.
See for yourself below:
Keighley spoke about the choice on his Instagram post, stating the following:
"One of the most meaningful things I do to prepare for The Game Awards is editing our nominee hype trailer. All year long I capture little clips and moments from the games I play and jot notes in my Notepad. Then, in the final weeks, I comb through hundreds of hours of footage to find the story I want to tell.
On the surface, it’s just a reel of cinematic moments from the nominees — but to me, it represents something deeper. Building this trailer helps me discover the emotional core of the show. It’s easy to look at TGA as a giant marketing event, but the reason this night resonates is because it means something to all of us. These trailers are my way of expressing that.
Every year I agonize over which song to use. I create playlists, audition tracks during morning runs, and think about how lyrics and energy might illuminate the themes of the year’s games.
This year, I chose Rain by @sleep_token — an extraordinary song about pain, rebirth, and catharsis. It reflected not just the journeys inside this year’s nominees, but a personal journey for me as well after losing my Dad a few months ago.
A small note you might not know: when Sleep Token performs Rain live, Vessel often begins with chords from the Halo 3 theme — a beautiful, unexpected connection. When I reached out, the band was gracious enough to let us use the song for this project.
What you see here is the result — a three-minute piece that takes dozens of disparate games and finds a universal story running through them. Like any creative pursuit, the edit is a journey. After hundreds of hours, there’s a moment where things fall into place — when the right quote lands perfectly on the right note, and suddenly the whole timeline in Premiere lights up with meaning.
I’m always deeply proud of these videos. They’re part of how I host this show. I’m not doing jokes or monologues — this is how I connect with you. And I hope that somewhere in this trailer, there’s a moment that resonates with how you feel when you play games.
Thanks as always to @martinwave and @parasolmusic.co for being such great musical collaborators."
The Game Awards will air on all major social media platforms this Thursday, December 11th. Check out their website for a full list of nominees and more information about the awards.
